Yes
by evellaspeidel
Summary: Why did Lily Evans ever agree to go out with James Potter...
1. The First Beginning

Shouts from the grounds drifted in the crisp air up to Gryffindor tower where Lily sat on the edge of a couch, studying for the N.E.W.T.s, even though it was only November. The common room was empty as nearly everyone had vacated the tower that Friday afternoon. It had snowed for the first time that fall earlier that morning and even though the snow only formed a thin blanket, her classmates were already having snowball fights. She gazed out of the windows, watching the flurries blow by and float lazily to the ground. Lily caught sight of a familiar head of unruly black hair sneaking up behind Sirius with a snowball only to have the latter whip around and conjure a blast of snowflakes which blew into James' face. Lily laughed and so did he as he wiped them out of his face and tripped Sirius with a flick of his wand. Peter had meanwhile, been painstakingly building his masterpiece, a rather large, lopsided snowball which he heaved at James, who had turned around just in time to watch it sail by, missing him by several feet and instead knocking a little girl who had been playing nearby with her fellow first years. Lily gasped and put a hand to her mouth. James after throwing Peter a disgusted look, helped the little girl to her feet. Lily couldn't hear what he said to her, but say that though her face was still wet from tears, she was smiling. Lily smiled too and turned back to her work, though not really paying attention, instead remembering.

First Year

All of a sudden, on her way down to the dungeon for Potions, her last class of the day, Lily had no idea where she was. All of the familiarity that Hogwarts had grown to have in the two moths she had been there disappeared. she looked around, growing more and more frantic as she went down this hallway and that. At first she was worried about being late for class, but as she went down more and more twisting and turning passages to no prevail, she began to grow scared. After what seemed like hours, Lily sank to the cold stone floor, exhausted, in a heap of robes, red hair, and schoolbooks. She began to cry and buried her face in her robes. After an indeterminable amount of time, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She looked up, rubbing her red and puffy eyes.

"What's wrong, Evans?"

"Nothing, leave me alone."

"Come with me." James pulled Lily to her feet and to her surprise she followed him, though she did remember to pull her hand out of his. He effortlessly navigated the labyrinth of passages, even leading through several secret passages she had never seen before. They ended up, not in front of the entrance to either the Great Hall or Gryffindor tower as Lily would have expected, but in front of a painting of a large fruit bowl. James reached out and tickled? the pear. The painting swung open revealing a kitchen with dozens of elves milling about. Lily stepped into the warmth of the kitchen amazed as the elves surrounded the pair of them. James took a bowl of ice cream that an elf offered him and handed it to Lily with a smile. "Cheer up."

Second Year

Behind her, Lily heard feet pounding against the stone floor of the castle and shouts of laughter growing nearer when all of a sudden-

"Sorry Evans, are you alright?" Lily rolled her eyes in disdain at James Potter as he ran his fingers through his hair, awaiting her answer, even though Sirius Black was impatiently waiting for him at the end of the corridor. James even came up to her, offering a hand, but was brushed off by the cold looks given to him by both Lily and Severus, who had helped Lily to her feet and handed to her her books which had been scattered across the floor when James had bumped into Lily. The pair walked by, but when Lily looked over her shoulder, James was still, amidst the other passerbys, waiting.

**Author's Note: Years 3-7 soon to come, as well as the conclusion to the story! Please review if you like this, or even if you don't!**


	2. Another Beginning

Third Year

"Hey!" Lily knows James is talking to to her even before he shouts, "Evans!" but she continues to ignore him, knowing full well he'll soon catch up to her where she walks on the cobblestone road that leads to Hogsmeade and begin to harass her. James had already asked her twice to accompany him to the village today, the first time they had been allowed to go on the monthly excursions. Sure enough, James Potter, who had grown more arrogant than ever now that he had been placed on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as Seeker, last year he had been an alternate, sidled up beside her. But surprisingly, all he did was hand her a an owl feather quill. "You dropped this."

"Thanks." James nods, but says nothing, so Lily allows him to walk with her the rest of the way to Hogsmeade.

Fourth Year

A tall, muscular boy slid on to the bench next to Lily and wrapped his arm around her waist in one fluid motion. "So, where should I meet you?"

Lily turned so that she was looking him squarely, shaking loose his arm in the process. "What are you talking about, McLaggen?"

He grinned slyly and winked while replying, "The Yule Ball, of course."

"I'm not going with you." Lily turned her focus back to her bowl of oatmeal.

Later, she hurried back to Gryffindor tower. Professor Slughorn had insisted on chatting with her and, not wanting to be rude, Lily had stayed nearly half an hour before managing to escape. That meant she had already missed half of her lunch hour and she still had to run up to her room, as she had forgotten her Transfiguration essay on her bedside table. Lily decided to take a shortcut and tapped on the brick directly below the painting of Artemisia Lufkin. The wall slid away, revealing a narrow crack, which Lily slipped through. She was nearly at the exit, a broom closet a few doors away from the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, when, as she was running up some narrow, rickety stairs, Lily ran into something hard. She made a muffled sound of pain and bounced back and hit the wall.

"Fancy running into you here, Evans." Tiberius McLaggen stood blocking the exit, arms crossed over his broad chest. Lily could hear students passing by in the hallway overhead. He was much too close. Lily tried to squirm away, but he grabbed her arm and pushed her up against the wall. With her free arm, Lily tried to reach for her wand as he came closer and-

McLaggen looked up in surprise as a yellowish-green liquid dropped onto his face. He touched his finger to the substance and his eyes widened and he looked up in surprise as angry red welts sprung up on his hand. McLaggen ran his hand over his cheek again. He looked at Lily in horror and stormed away angrily when he saw she was bent over, laughing.

"Glad you appreciated it, Evans." She quickly sobered at the sound of James Potter's voice, but around in confusion when she saw he was nowhere to be found. Lily gasped when James whisked off the Invisibility cloak he'd been wearing and added a bow to flourish his appearance. Lily just started laughing again and found she couldn't stop. James stared at her.

"Undiluted bubotuber pus, oh, you should have seen his face-"

"I did," James reminded her, as he continued to watch her laugh, tearing streaming down her face. He'd never seen this side of Lily before.

When she finally stopped laughing, Lily asked, "Why were you here anyway? Do you just wait in secret passages to prank people?"

"Occasionally. I was here specifically for McLaggen though if Sni-" For once James thought to hold his tongue. "I saw him bothering you this morning. I figured he'd be too thick to take a hint. We've had an eye on him all morning." James pulls out a piece of parchment and unfolds it. "See?" James points to the dot on the map of the castle labeled 'Tiberius McLaggen.' "He's on he's way to the Hospital Wing. Mischief managed." Lily watches, mouth open, as the ink on the map fades away. James puts the blank parchment in his back pocket and turns his attention fully to Lily. "So, about the Yule Ball?"

Lily shakes her head, but she is smiling as she leaves.

Fifth Year

Lily climbed though the portrait hole after her last fight with Severus with a stony expression. As soon as she entered the relative safety of the Gryffindor common room, she allowed two tears to trail down her cheeks. Her lip was quivering and she didn't dare change her expression for fear that she would start to cry. Lily tried to slip up to her dormitory on noticed, but tripped on the bottom stair, so instead sat down and buried her head in her hands. At least there's only two more days, she thought. If only I can make it through them. She felt someone next to her and expected them to walk by, but instead she felt someone sit next to her and put their arm around her shoulders. She peeked though her folded arms and saw James Potter.

"I'm sorry Lily."

"It's not you're fault. You knew Sev- Snape, rather, would turn out like this all along." James was surprised that Lily spoke to him and even more surprised when she leaned her head against him.

"But it still hurts you. You can't blame yourself for caring about him." It hurts James to admit what he'd always known, that Lily Evans cared more about Snivellus than she did about him.

"It had to happen." Lily looks absolutely crushed, resigned to the fact that she had lost her only best friend. They don't talk after this, but James doesn't leave until Lily falls asleep. When she does, he picks her up and lays her on a vacant couch in front of the fire, where he tucks a blanket around her and pushes back a strand of red hair which had fallen in her face. he wipes away the trails of dried salt her tears had left and after, looking around, swiftly bends down and kisses her lightly on the forehead.

"Good night, Lily." James turns around

Sixth Year

Lily and Mary were already half way back to the castle when Lily stopped and looked up in alarm. Mary looked over her shoulder and gave her friend a quizzical look before stepping back beside Lily, who was rummaging through her bag, flaming hair awry.

"My book! I must have left it at Madam Puddifoot's!" Lily had reluctantly agreed to accompany Mary after her incessant begging, only to have Mary run into a friend of her mother and spend the afternoon chatting. Lily had quickly given up any hope of participating in the conversation and settled herself at one of the tables to finish her Charms assignment. "And my homework!" Lily realized with a start.

"Calm down, Lils, you can just Summon it." This did little to calm her frantic friend.

"I can't; I put an anti-Summoning charm on it," Lily moaned.

"In Merlin's name, why would you do that?"

"Potter and Black kept Summoning all of my school books. I learned my lesson after my Draconian Book of Dragons set fire to the Venomous Tentacula we were studying in Herbology and charmed them all. I'll have to go back."

"I'll come with you," Mary said automatically, then added quickly, "If you need me to."

"That's okay," Lily replied with a smile. Mary looked relieved and glanced nervously toward the castle. "I'll just be a few minutes. See you in the Great Hall." She trudged back to Hogsmeade through the snow, pulling her forest green cloak closer as she shivered under the darkening sky. Luckily, the tea shop was open and Madam Puddifoot was serving a couple of elderly witches, so she didn't notice Lily slip in and grab her book and papers, which were on the table where she'd left them with her still full cup of tea.

Lily walked quickly out of the shop, face down to shield herself from the biting wind. She looked up as a familiar voice called her name and she caught sight of James Potter striding across the snowy street with a grin on his face.

"What are you doing out so late, Potter?"

"I could ask you the same, Evans."

Lily holds up _Where There's a Wand, There's a Way_ in answer, then elaborates, "It's all your fault I had to put an an anti-Summoning charm on this."

"Well, then at least allow me to escort you home." James offers Lily his arm. She loops her arm through his and they walk back to the castle, only to find the doors barred shut. "I guess we missed curfew," James shrugs, turning them around.

"'I guess we missed curfew!' Are you serious, we're locked out of the castle. It's freezing! We're going to be in so much trouble!"

"I guarantee I've been in more before." At Lily's scathing look, he adds, "Don't worry, follow me." She soon relents and once more they walk toward Hogsmeade. Now nearly every store had closed, the light of oil lamps and sounds of laughter drifts to them from The Three Broomsticks, but they are over by an abandoned Honeyduke's. James pulls a silvery cloak out of his pocket, throws it over the pair and before Lily can protest, whispers, "Alohamora." The door to the sweet shop swings open. James shoves Lily through and pulls the door shut behind them. He shuffles around in the dark, leaving Lily no choice but to grab onto his hand and follow along. "Here it is." Lily feels James bend down and hears a creak as he opens the cellar door. "Be careful." When they reach the bottom of the stairs. James takes off the invisibility cloak and with a wave of his wand, conjures a ball of light, which allows him to spot the trapdoor in the cellar floor. He pulls up on a rusty loop. "After you, Evans."

She peers into the dark. "Where does that even go?"

"All passages lead to Hogwarts, my dear." Lily still looks skeptical, so James reassures her. "I'll be with you every step of the way."

"That's so comforting,"Lily says, voice dripping with sarcasm, but she follows when he steps down and takes his offered hand as she too drops down into the passage. With his free hand, James pulls the trapdoor shut and it thuds back in place with finality, displacing dust in the process which fell into Lily's eyes. "Lumos," she says, coughing and wiping her watering eyes with the back of her hand. "I hope you know where you're going," Lily said, as all that was illuminated by the dim light was James beside her.

"Of course." He whips out a piece of parchment that Lily had not seen close up for over two years. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he says impatiently. Then he points at a pair of dots. "See? We're not that far away at all."

"Well we'd better hurry, I said I'd meet Mary- Ahh!" Lily stumbled on a stone and tripped managing not to fall with James' support, but stepping forward into a small ditch, landing in the bottom on her ankle, which had twisted.

"Lily! What happened?" He helped her gently to the ground. Tiny tears of pain had sprung up in her eyes. James looked at her ankle and his eyes widened.

"Can we just get back to the castle?" Lily asked miserably. She tried to stand up, James protesting too late, and shouted out in pain, even though she had only placed her weight on the ankle for a second before crumbling back to the ground.

"Here." James scooped Lily up, supporting her ankle with part of his arm. Lily wrapped her arms around his neck. "Let's go home."

Smiling slightly, Lily turned back to her work in earnest, but not for long.

"Hey, Evans!" Lily looked up to see a red faced James Potter, still shaking snow out of his black hair. He sat down next to her. "You really missed out on a lot of fun."

"Sure." Lily looked down again, but James didn't leave. He couldn't tell she wasn't actually reading. Lily closed her book, carefully marking her place, and looked up at James. "What's up?"

"Actually, now that you mention it..." He paused. "Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow?" Lily looked steadily into his eyes and realized that James Potter had changed. He'd always cared about her, but she saw today that he cared about others too. Gone was the arrogant bully which had pushed her away, no matter how much she loved the other side of James Potter. Lily didn't look away when she saw the depth of sincerity she felt mirrored in his eyes. Or when she said,

"Yes."


End file.
